LIGHTNOVELSTORY Chapter 14: Tutorial.11
What I gathered from my own experiences, along with the description of the skill, was that it had four main effects. The first was the enhancement of my instincts. Without a doubt, this is the explanation behind my combat performance and the almost supernatural reaction time I possess. My ability to react is far beyond what my stats should allow, and that's why, sometimes, I feel like my body can't keep up with what I want it to do.
The second part of the skill is the perception of the surroundings. The sensation of a 360-degree awareness that I experienced during the fight makes me act as though I have eyes in the back of my head. I can't explain how it works; I just "know" where everything is.
Even now, I am still alert. I feel the flickering flames of the fire and every particle of smoke in the air. I know where the log is beneath me, how there's a small hollow part of it, and I can perceive every blade of grass around me. My understanding of this improves whenever I focus, but passively, I'm becoming aware of nearly everything around me, especially any movement.
It's all vague, however, and the range seems to be only a few meters. I can't sense the other people, as they're still on the corpses, about 10 meters away. I estimate that the range is maybe five or six meters. It's very low for reconnaissance, but incredibly useful in combat.
The third effect of the skill was the perception of danger. This part was pretty self-explanatory, to be honest. It was the tingling sensation I felt whenever something dangerous was coming toward me, the feeling in my gut that something was lurking ahead, waiting to strike.
On its own, this part would already be great, but what made this skill incredibly powerful was the synergy with the other two effects. My perception of the environment around me allowed me to understand the nature of the danger, and my enhanced instincts enabled me to react in a split second.
The fourth and final part was a 5% bonus to perception. While it was certainly valuable, I saw this effect as somewhat insignificant compared to the others. However, I had no doubt that it would become more useful as I gained more stats, since the bonus would begin to increase.
The entire skill seemed far stronger than anything I had ever seen. The "Eye of the Fatal Shot" was also a perception-based skill, but compared to my "Lineage of the Rare Fatal Shot," which was destined for me, it was almost useless for anything beyond reconnaissance.
Even though the skill itself was amazing, it didn't come alone and brought even more benefits.
["Title Earned: [King of Lineage] – Unlock a unique lineage skill. The power found in the origin of your Records is yours, and only yours, to wield and pass down through the multiverse. May your lineage prevail. +15 Vitality, +10% to Vitality."]
That was... huge. In so many different ways.
The description of the title was something in itself. Especially when compared to my only other title, which was just a practical statement that I was now part of the multiverse and new to it. This one, on the other hand, talked about something called "Records." What the hell was that?
Even the name of the title seemed more impactful. Patriarch of the Lineage. It was indicating that I was the ancestor of the lineage and that it was solely mine. Did that mean the rest of my family didn't have it? Was I just the first to unlock it? The thought that my family was still alive briefly crossed my mind, but I suppressed that thought. Now wasn't the time to get sentimental.
The description and the stats granted by the title indicated that the system wanted me to survive and allow the lineage to continue on... and, wow, the stats. A massive vitality boost of +15, instantly making it my highest stat, further improved by an additional +10% directly on top of that.
Looking at my stats, I realized there had been significant development in terms of levels, skills, and titles.
["Status"]
["Name: Alexander Wood"]
["Race: [Human (G) – lvl 2]"]
["Class: [Fatal Shot – lvl 5]"]
["Profession: N/A"]
["Health Points (HP): 302/310"]
["Mana Points (MP): 123/130"]
["Stamina: 144/170"]
["Statistics"]
["Strength: 18"]
["Agility: 19"]
["Stamina: 17"]
["Vitality: 31"]
["Resistance: 12"]
["Wisdom: 13"]
["Intelligence: 13"]
["Perception: 28"]
["Willpower: 11"]
["Free Points: 3"]
My stats had grown enormously, which made me smile widely. However, I frowned a bit when I started questioning my vitality at 31. According to my quick math, I should have had 29 vitality before the +10%, since it was 13 the last time I checked. After that, I gained +1 point from leveling up my race and +15 from the title. With +10%, it should have been at 31.9... and yet it showed only 31 and not 32. Did it only display whole numbers rounded down?
I had 3 free points, so instead of thinking about it more, I allocated a single point and saw my vitality instantly jump from 31 to 33. So, just whole numbers rounded down. Got it, I thought, agreeing internally.
As for my last two points, I decided to do another experiment. My stamina was at 144/170, higher than my maximum when I woke up earlier in the night. What I wanted to know was how increasing the maximum of a resource affected the current amount available.
I allocated one free point to stamina, leaving one left for later. I saw my stamina jump to 154/180, adding 10 static points to both the maximum and the current amount. Does this mean that I could, potentially, have infinite stamina with enough repeated level-ups? I wondered, though I admitted that the likelihood of that happening was pretty slim.
For the last free point, I wasn't sure how to distribute it, so I left it aside for now. The last item on my long list of system messages was the result of reaching level 5 in my Fatal Shot class:
["Fatal Shot class skill available"]
I mentally acknowledged that I wanted to explore the class skills, and a large list appeared in front of me. To my surprise, a large number of weapon skills showed up before me. [Basic Two-Handed Weapons (lower)], [Basic Shield Technique (lower)], [Basic Unarmed (lower)], [Basic Throwing Weapons (lower)], and so on.
The only skills I didn't seem to have were the ones related to magic. Honestly, I wasn't interested in any of them. I was more than happy with my already upgraded ["Advanced Archery (Common),"] and still had the [Basic One-Handed Weapons (Lower)] skill in case things got risky and I was forced to fight up close like in the last fight. This left me with only three options available at the bottom.
["Basic Traps (Lower) – Fatal Shot is not limited to direct combat, but can also use tactical dexterity to emerge victorious. Unlocks proficiency in the use of basic traps and knowledge of how to craft them. Adds a tiny bonus to the effects of stats on traps, depending on the nature of the trap."]
["Basic Stealth (Lower) – The deadliest predator is the one who isn't seen coming. Unlocks basic proficiency in the arts of stealth, allowing you to remain undetected more easily and blend into the environment. Adds a tiny bonus to the effects of agility and perception when successfully remaining undetected."]
["Basic Tracking (Lower) – The first goal of any hunt is to find your prey. Unlocks basic proficiency in tracking entities you are familiar with. Identifiable traces must be available. Adds a tiny bonus to the effect of perception when tracking."]
All the options were just more basic proficiency skills. Thinking about the two close-combat ambushers from before, both were above level 5 in their classes. I wouldn't be surprised if both had the basic stealth skill, considering how close I got to them while they managed to stay hidden. Although the first warrior had a shiny weapon, so he probably acquired a skill to do that. Yeah, that made me a little jealous. Good luck, that lucky guy was dead.
I saw value in all the options, but I couldn't picture myself setting up a large number of traps, especially not with my lineage skill. I really wanted the tracking skill and considered using it to figure out where the three attackers had come from.
But in the end, I decided on [Basic Stealth (Lower)]. I could imagine the synergy with my lineage skill, allowing me to strike my enemies before they had a chance to retaliate. The fact that it also scaled with agility and perception only made everything better.
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